No longer are electronic communication devices necessarily tethered by wires. In recent times wireless communications has become a popular and often an economical and convenient method by which to communicate both analog and digital information. In particular, cellular phones and other mobile communication devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), palm, and lap-top computing devices connect to service providers via wireless links.
Such wireless devices rely on antenna technology to radiate radio frequency (RF) signals for transmission (Tx) as well as to gather RF broadcast signals for reception (Rx). Often the same antenna or antenna array performs both of these transmit and receive functions. While antennas may be one of the most vital elements in a wireless system, they may be one of the most inefficient elements, typically accounting for a large portion of energy loss.
As the effort to shrink the size of mobile devices such as cell phones continues, efforts are being made to reduce the size of the antenna. To further compound this effort, modern cell phones may be designed to work with dual/triple/quad bands for Tx/Rx. Given the size considerations, it may be difficult to have a dedicated antenna to operate in each frequency band. For example, FIG. 1 shows the frequency range of the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) 850 and GSM 900 bands which together span about 824 MHz to 960 MHz (megahertz). GSM is currently the dominant digital mobile phone standard for much of the world. As shown, GSM 850 utilizes 25 MHz each for Tx and Rx, and GSM 900 utilizes 35 MHz each for Tx and Rx. The GSM protocol dictates the way that mobile phones communicate with the land-based network of cell towers. Modern mobile communication devices thus call for a small antenna that can efficiently operate over such a broad range.
The efficiency of so called microstrip or “patch antennas”, which are often used in cellular phone applications can fluctuate dramatically depending on its usage. For example, the radiation efficiency can fluctuate from 80% down to 15% or lower depending the positioning of the antenna and surrounding environment. Environmental considerations include not only geographical terrain, but also more dynamic factors such as the phone is sitting on a table, held the user's hand, near the user's head, inside of a car, etc. Further, for any given wireless session the antenna may encounter all of these obstacles as the user constantly repositions the phone and thus repositions the antenna. A major cause of these fluctuations may be due to detuning of the center frequency of the antenna caused by additional capacitive loading from the environment.